A simple method to differentiate between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria directly on clinical specimens. 2007

Mandira Varma-Basil, and Sujeet Kumar, and Jitender Yadav, and Nalini Kumar, and Mridula Bose
Department of Microbiology, Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, University of Delhi, Delhi, India.

We report the applicability of testing susceptibility to paranitrobenzoic acid (PNB) directly on clinical samples as a rapid screening assay, to detect M. tuberculosis and differentiate it from non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). One hundred smear positive sputum samples from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis attending the Department of Respiratory Medicine at VP Chest Institute, Delhi, were cultured on Löwenstein Jensen medium with and without 0.5 mg/ml paranitrobenzoic acid. Serial concentrations of known cultures of H37Rv, M. fortuitum, M. scrofulaceum and M. avium were used as controls in the study. After 3 weeks of incubation, growth was observed on all the drug free Löwenstein Jensen slants but none of the slants containing PNB, which inhibited the growth of M. tuberculosis. The cultures were further confirmed to be M. tuberculosis by niacin, nitrate and catalase tests. Direct susceptibility to PNB was thus found to be a simple, cheap and technically feasible method of preliminary identification of M. tuberculosis and its effective differentiation from NTM, which may be adapted for use at Level II laboratories, especially in developing countries.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007194 India A country in southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan. The capitol is New Delhi. Republic of India
D008826 Microbial Sensitivity Tests Any tests that demonstrate the relative efficacy of different chemotherapeutic agents against specific microorganisms (i.e., bacteria, fungi, viruses). Bacterial Sensitivity Tests,Drug Sensitivity Assay, Microbial,Minimum Inhibitory Concentration,Antibacterial Susceptibility Breakpoint Determination,Antibiogram,Antimicrobial Susceptibility Breakpoint Determination,Bacterial Sensitivity Test,Breakpoint Determination, Antibacterial Susceptibility,Breakpoint Determination, Antimicrobial Susceptibility,Fungal Drug Sensitivity Tests,Fungus Drug Sensitivity Tests,Sensitivity Test, Bacterial,Sensitivity Tests, Bacterial,Test, Bacterial Sensitivity,Tests, Bacterial Sensitivity,Viral Drug Sensitivity Tests,Virus Drug Sensitivity Tests,Antibiograms,Concentration, Minimum Inhibitory,Concentrations, Minimum Inhibitory,Inhibitory Concentration, Minimum,Inhibitory Concentrations, Minimum,Microbial Sensitivity Test,Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations,Sensitivity Test, Microbial,Sensitivity Tests, Microbial,Test, Microbial Sensitivity,Tests, Microbial Sensitivity
D009161 Mycobacterium A genus of gram-positive, aerobic bacteria. Most species are free-living in soil and water, but the major habitat for some is the diseased tissue of warm-blooded hosts. Mycobacteria
D009164 Mycobacterium Infections Infections with bacteria of the genus MYCOBACTERIUM. Infections, Mycobacterium,Infection, Mycobacterium,Mycobacterium Infection
D009169 Mycobacterium tuberculosis A species of gram-positive, aerobic bacteria that produces TUBERCULOSIS in humans, other primates, CATTLE; DOGS; and some other animals which have contact with humans. Growth tends to be in serpentine, cordlike masses in which the bacilli show a parallel orientation. Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv
D009578 Nitrobenzenes BENZENE derivatives carrying nitro group substituents.
D003937 Diagnosis, Differential Determination of which one of two or more diseases or conditions a patient is suffering from by systematically comparing and contrasting results of diagnostic measures. Diagnoses, Differential,Differential Diagnoses,Differential Diagnosis
D005231 Fatty Acids, Unsaturated FATTY ACIDS in which the carbon chain contains one or more double or triple carbon-carbon bonds. Fatty Acids, Polyunsaturated,Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid,Unsaturated Fatty Acid,Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids,Acid, Polyunsaturated Fatty,Acid, Unsaturated Fatty,Acids, Polyunsaturated Fatty,Acids, Unsaturated Fatty,Fatty Acid, Polyunsaturated,Fatty Acid, Unsaturated,Unsaturated Fatty Acids
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D012680 Sensitivity and Specificity Binary classification measures to assess test results. Sensitivity or recall rate is the proportion of true positives. Specificity is the probability of correctly determining the absence of a condition. (From Last, Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed) Specificity,Sensitivity,Specificity and Sensitivity

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